September 2015

#1 Enable Demographics + Interest Reports

Why?

Adding one little line to your tracking code will allow for rich data about your site visitor’s age, gender & interests. Once you have that data you can create segments to see how your female visitors behaviors differ from your male visitors or what movie lovers are looking for on your site.

How?

Go to Admin > Property Settings

Enable Demographics and Interest Reports

Go to Tracking Info > Data Collection

Enable Advertising Reporting Features

Update your tracking code:

Example Result:

#2 Set Up Google Webmaster Tools

Why?

When you want to see what keywords are driving to your site and all you see is (not provided), Google Webmaster Tools can solve that. What Webmaster Tools does is aggregate your search queries to eliminate “(not provided)” and allow you to reclaim your keyword data.

How?

Go to Admin > Property Settings

Select Adjust Webmaster Tools

Under Webmaster Tools Site, select Edit

Add Your Website Property

Verify Your Website Property

Example Result:

#3 Bot Filtering

Why?

Having spam traffic in your analytics throws off all your data. There’s advanced settings that will allow for more bot filtering, but this simple step will help you begin to eliminate some of that.

How?

Go to Admin > Property Settings

Enable Bot Filtering

#4 Set Up Filters

Why?

This can be as simple or as complex as you’d like to make it, but filtering allows you to get only the real data you want. You can exclude IP addresses, remove spam, change all your URLs to lowercase, and much more. Get started with “Three Google Analytics Filters You Should Be Using Today”